Salt of the Earth
by Indigo Flame
Summary: a Lily and James story please R/R
1. Default Chapter

Salt of the Earth  
  
Chapter 1: Meet the crowd  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything which you recognize from the Harry Potter series.  
  
"Needs more salt." Commented James Potter, a 15 year old boy who was enjoying his summer holidays before school started.  
  
"No it doesn't!" His frustrated mother argued back, as she stirred the sauce with her wand. "Now why don't you ask Sirius to come over?" She suggested, trying to get James off her back.  
  
"He's coming soon, as soon as he can get away from his parents, dark- blooded scum they are." James huffed, momentarily forgetting the salsa as his mind was distracted by vicious thoughts of his best friend Sirius's predicament when he was in his own house.  
  
"Don't talk about other people's parents like that!' Reprimanded James's mother, Assyria, as she began to taste a bit of the salsa herself.  
  
"But they are scum, and you know it mum," Grumbled James, before walking away in search of more things to do, or to quote his mother, more objects to break.  
  
"It's too salty." His mother exclaimed, "how could you think it needed more salt?" She continued, ignoring the comment her son had made, but the exclamation did not reach her son's ears, as he had already grabbed his broom and was out of the kitchen.  
  
James Potter, James Henry Potter to be exact, was going to be a fifth year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in about 2 months time. He was initially looking forward to the holidays, but now he was just getting bored. He was waiting for his friend Sirius to come over. Standing at about 5 feet 10 inches, James was rather tall for his age, and he saw this as an advantage in Quidditch, although in reality there really was none. He had messy black hair which stuck up in all directions, and had a habit of running his fingers through his hair to enforce the "punk" look he liked. Hazel eyes, a straight nose and well cut lips made up his main features, but he had a square jaw, and as his father said, this showed his stubbornness.  
  
James's father was very critical of his son's appearance, studies and general lifestyle. He was the Minister of Magic, and therefore, his family was constantly under public scrutiny. In front of his father, James acted perfect, well as perfect as he could get that is. In school however, he was to quote some people, a devil in disguise. His fellow "devils" were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.  
  
Sirius Black had shaggy dark brown hair which constantly changed colour due to a few strategic colour changing charms he used on his hair. He had deep blue eyes, which constantly twinkled and a wide smile with shining teeth which reminded you of those exaggerated commercials which advertised a certain brand of toothpaste. He had a slight bump on his nose, due to a stray bludger which was once sent his way, according to Sirius but his friends knew the truth. He had walked into a door once, in his first year. However, as Sirius said, there was no need for anyone to know that so he used the "heroic Quidditch player" routine.  
  
Remus Johan Lupin was about as tall as Sirius was, maybe an inch shorter at 5 feet 8 inches with sandy blonde hair which seemed to have a life of its own, a bit like James's but not so extreme. His blonde hair had the occasional silver streak, and sometimes gold or brown. With eyes the colour of a very light brown, he gave off this very shy and sensitive aura and that described his personality perfectly. He did have a mischievous side however, and was the peacemaker, but he did tend to have a touchy spot when it came to the mentioning of geese, but nobody really could understand that, with the exception of his best friends, but what is new right?  
  
The last one was Peter Pettigrew and he had always been vertically challenged. However what he lacked in stature he made up in wittiness and sparks of mischief. He could be described as stocky or well padded but when you called him short, he could really deal a good punch as well as a lurid string of curses. He, like Remus, had blonde hair with Sirius's blue eyes, and had a sprinkle of freckles on his friendly face. He always admired James, and James loved to bask in his attention, and also admired Peter for his humour most of the time.  
  
Back to James in his house in Godric Hollow. The house was large with three floors and it was magical. House elves ran all over the place, well there were actually only 3 house elves but they seemed to be everywhere at one time. James grabbed his broom and walked out of the house, but then changed his mind and walked back inside. After checking to see what his mother was doing, she was still brewing the weird salsa thing, he thought, he walked up the stairs, up to his room. He found his father in his office, talking on the phone, and he waved, not exactly expecting a gesture of response. His father nodded, which was quite an achievement, James thought before opening the door to his room and walking in.  
  
James's room was red and gold with the Gryffindor lion all over the room. He had not changed decorations for a long time, and was not planning to. He searched for his owl, Apollo, found it, and fed it an owl treat. After that, he rummaged around his desk, which was littered with paper, for a certain piece of green parchment. He found it after a considerable amount of effort and a string of curses, and pulled out a quill from his pocket, dipped it in a pot of ink and began to write.  
  
Sirius. Get your ass here now. Cheers, James.  
  
With a flourish at the end, he attached it onto the leg of Apollo and sent him off to the Black Residence. The green parchment was fireproof, as the Blacks tended to blow up many of James's letters, saying that they were brainwashing their little Sirius. Of course, "their little Sirius" hated his parents with a vengeance, he hated the way they were knee deep, no wait scratch that nose deep in the dark arts and how they were absolutely determined to brand the dark mark onto him. When he was sorted into Gryffindor, they practically disowned him, but then decided against it when Dumbledore sent them a letter, which contents was guarded by Sirius's parents, but they did not disown him, much to generally everyone's disappointment.  
  
James sat on his bed, thinking of a certain redhead who had caught his eye a few months ago, near the end of fourth year. Her name was Evans, Lilac Evans? Wait no, that was Lilac Crumble, the girl in Hufflepuff with the nice legs. No she was Lillian, or was it Vivian? Oh well he just called her Evans, it saved much trouble and possible embarrassment and also a punch in the jaw, he had seen her give Sirius a right hook for making a comment about somebody, he couldn't quite place it.  
  
As he thought about Evans, he began to wonder what she was doing at that very moment, probably with her family who actually pay attention to her, he thought bitterly, thinking of his own parents. His mother was nice enough, but rarely listened to what James was saying and his father acted as though he owned no family. He supposed that compared to Sirius's family his family was heaven sent but still, he wanted a family like Remus's or Peter's, his parents always took him on holiday. Our favourite werewolf's parents however, were not able to do that, but made it up by spending as much time as possible with him.  
  
He felt himself give a sigh and fall back onto his back to gaze at the ceiling, and promptly felt something drop on his face. It was the green letter, a bit singed but nonetheless rather intact.  
  
Be right over. Don't get your panties in a twist. Even more cheers, so there, Ruler of the Universes aka Sirius.  
  
James grinned as he tossed the parchment aside, he had a whole stack of fireproof parchments in his cabinet, somewhere or other. He summoned one with his wand, he could use magic as he lived in a magical neighbourhood. However, there was nobody but old people who lived in Godric's Hollow, and you could only hear stories about the Goblin Rebellion SO many times before you had the urge to whack them on the head.  
  
He waited around, wondering once more about what Evans was doing, before thinking about her gorgeous red hair, he beautiful eyes, that evil smirk she always wore when she was mocking him. 


	2. Over at Evans' House

Salt of the Earth  
  
Chapter 2: Over at Evans's house  
  
Disclaimer: See the previous chapter  
  
"Petunia! Get your oversized butt down here this instant!" Lily called, before turning to her disapproving mother and saying, "Bet she will come down soon."  
  
"Honestly Lily, you really should be nicer to Pet," Her mother chided but Lily paid no heed as she sniggered silently as her sister stormed down, complete with gaudy make up and mismatching clothes. She had a purple top and a bright lime green skirt and shoes that a clown would envy. However, Lily had to give it to her, she did have guts to go out in that garb, and she said so, earning a light smack from her mother, who was considerably trying to keep a straight face, and a snobbish look from Petunia.  
  
"At least I have a figure, unlike you." Was the best Petunia could come up with and Lily shook her head, shaking with silent laughter. What was so funny, she wasn't very sure, she had gotten quite used to her sister's obscenely disgusting way of dressing, so it had to be the fact that she was using an accent on her. Not on purpose, she guessed, Vernon must be coming over. What sort of name was Vernon anyway? She thought to herself, sounds like some washing detergent brand.  
  
"Of course Petty dear." She replied, flashing Petunia a million watt smile before calling her dad down for breakfast.  
  
Very soon, the whole Evans family was down, Ivan Evans sat at the head of the table, his wife, Heather Evans and the pair of sisters were down, munching on toast and drinking milo. Well, only Lily was drinking that, the rest of them were drinking tea.  
  
"Teri and Katie are coming today." Lily commented, as she spread butter onto her second piece of toast.  
  
"Tewi and Kwatie are coming today!" Imitated Petunia and Lily shot her a glare before continuing, "And we are planning to squash Petunia with a piece of wood, but don't tell her, she might object." She finished, with a mock whisper.  
  
"I'll get you for that you twerp." Petunia hissed, but you could see that she was amused. She lunged for Lily and Lily danced out of her reach, and dashed upstairs, with Petunia hot on her heels. Ivan and Heather sighed, their children were as unpredictable as the weather, one moment they were scathing in their remarks, the next they acted like best friends.  
  
"GET OFF PET!" Lily imitated her sister's squeaky voice and one could hear laughter erupting on the second floor of the house, accompanied by footsteps clomping around.  
  
"Keep it down girls!" Yelled Ivan Evans, but did not really seem to be heard, by the squeals and squawks of the girls.  
  
"RIIIIIIIIING!" The doorbell ran and immediately there was silence.  
  
"I'll get it!" Both girls hollered at the same time, and raced to who could reach the bottom first, Petunia winning as Lily for some strange reason, her legs taped together. Both girls were laughing, but the moment Petunia opened the door revealing a man who seemed extremely rounded, she tensed up, and shooting everyone in the house a disdainful look, crowed, "Vern is here, I will be going. Lily, do get that tape off."  
  
Lily sighed, it wasn't as though she expected the harmony to last long, she sneered at her sister, as she removed the tape but Petunia had already closed the door.  
  
Lily hobbled off, struggling to take off the tape before walking upstairs, planning to send a letter to Teri and Katie, asking them to come earlier if possible.  
  
She opened the door to her room, which was done up in a light blue, with posters of Quidditch players all over the room. The Evans were rather well- off and Lily had her very own bathroom, and walk in wardrobe. First of all, Lily searched for two pieces of parchment, scribbled, "come now" on both, before tying one onto Hades, and the other one to their family owl, the one which her parents used to send mail to her in Hogwarts, Lionel. Her parents had insisted on giving their owl a normal name, much to Lily's amusement. She sent Lionel to Teri's house, and Hades to Katie's.  
  
After that, she decided to change her outfit. She was still in her pyjamas, and it was getting rather late, as she checked the clock. It was 11 o'clock, time for her bath and exercises. First of all, she did the 100 push-ups and sit-ups assigned to all the Quidditch team players of Gryffindor before doing the crunches and leg lifts. After all of that, which took a grueling twenty minutes, and a whole load of grunting, Lily received a reply from Teri.  
  
Not fair, you gave me the boring owl! Doom on you. Anyways, I will come ASAP, my brother is gonna give me a lift there, as I don't think your fireplace is connected to the floo network and your parents won't want me blasting into your posh place. SO, I think I'll be there in about an hour, if you are lucky. If not, you will have to live without me, I know it will be difficult. See ya!  
  
Lily chuckled, she could picture Teri with her dramatic posing at certain parts of the letter and crumpled it up, and threw it into the bin. She went to the bathroom, whistling a random tune as she began to bathe.  
  
After a refreshing bath, she emerged looking much fresher. She dried her hair the muggle way, as she did not have the privilege of using magic, she was in a muggle neighbourhood. After that, she combed it a few times and then threw on a pair of khaki pants and a tye dye t shrit. She tuned into the radio station, and listened to a few muggle bands. She was supposed to be doing her homework, but she never was a very good friend with work, she was more of a "leave it to the last minute in case Jesus comes" type of girl, and she decided to just listen to some music or maybe give a few muggle friends a call. Halfway through a Donny Osmond song, the reply from Katie came.  
  
WOOHOO I GOT HADES! KISS MY ASS TERI! Anyway yes sarah, I'll come soon. Just got your letter, Hades just couldn't' stop flirting with Carapace! Oh and my toad looked rather frightened, what did you do to Hades' beak? He looks like he has gone for some plastic surgery gone wrong. I'll be there approximately about now.  
  
At that moment, the doorbell rang and Lily grinned. Trust Katie to be mathematical. She probably spent about 2 minutes calculating that. She could hear footsteps on the wooden stairs and soon a brunette burst into her room, her messy hair flying all over her face.  
  
"I'M HERE!" She announced, this was Katie, with her hair in two braids and wearing a denim skirt with a sleeveless top.  
  
"You don't say?" Remarked Lily, as she helped Katie with her bags. She was staying over along with Teri at Lily's house for a week, and after that they were going to Diagon Alley in advance to get their school stuff, then to Atlantis, the main wizard shopping complex, for a shopping trip.  
  
"Clam it, I brought work to do, I need help with the potions essay." Katie demanded, shoving herself onto the bed and rummaging Lily's bedside table.  
  
"I haven't done it yet. Honestly, Summer's just begun."  
  
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!" Ever the dramatist, Katie fell over, but then straightened up and commented, "Ah well can't mourn forever. Where's Ter?"  
  
"Her brother is sending her over." Lily replied, watching amusedly at her friend's mood swings. Katie made a face and said that with luck she would be here that millennium and Lily agreed. They both began chatting idly about their holidays so far, and Lily learnt that Katie's older sister, Ella Richmond, had found a job at the Ministry.  
  
Katie had brown hair with streaks of gold in it, which she said was caused by the sun, much to Teri's and Lily's amusement. It was shoulder length, and it was always done up in plaits, for some strange reason. She was a bit shorter than Lily who was 5 feet 3, standing at around 5 feet 2. She wasn't in the Quidditch team as she was president of the Gobstone's club, and was basically a fanatic. Her dark brown eyes seemed to have a maniacal gleam in them whenever she played against anyone, even if it was a first year. She was known to chase people around the school asking them to join in this "enriching" activity, and was known to be very persuasive as well.  
  
At that moment, she was trying to engage Lily in a debate whether or not Gobstone's should rise to an international level such as Quidditch, and Lily was trying desperately to avoid the debate.  
  
"They both require the same mental and physical stamina!" Insisted Katie, and Lily, hearing the part about physical stamina, snorted and could not resist making a snide comment.  
  
"Terribly tiring it must be, lifting gobstones." She snickered, and the debate started.  
  
"Gobstones requires more mental activity, you just need a good broom to do well in quidditch!"  
  
"Quidditch requires skill! If not everybody could be an international player! Gobstones is just throwing a couple of rocks around!"  
  
"THEY AREN'T ROCKS! THEY ARE CRAFTED PIECES OF GRANITE!" Shouted Katie, standing up on the bed, and bouncing up and down, more excited than angry.  
  
"Quidditch so rules!" Lily persisted, now standing on the bed as well, and they both bounced up and down, forgetting the argument as Katie suddenly remembered something.  
  
"How are we gonna get our school stuff if we don't have our letters yet?" She pointed out, and Lily pondered the point.  
  
"Good point, oh what the hell we'll just go anyway to buy some other stuff." Lily decided and Katie shrugged her shoulders, showing that she agreed.  
  
They could hear the tooting of the horn outside, signaling the arrival of Teri. Katie and Lily raced downstairs, Lily winning due to her Quidditch training, though Katie was not far behind, pulling Lily's waist long auburn hair which was in a messy ponytail.  
  
"TERI!" They both yelled, and the raven haired girl grinned. She had short raven hair and mischievous blue eyes, which sparkled most of the time. Teri and Katie were both pureblooded, but while Katie's roots ran way back, Teri's mother was muggle-born. Lily was muggle-born but blood didn't really matter, as Teri and Katie constantly assured her.  
  
Katie helped carry Teri's sleeping bag, while Sarah began to ask Teri whether she had done her Quidditch exercises. Teri nodded and Sarah and Katie could tell from experience that she was bursting to tell them something.  
  
"Spit it out!" Katie and Sarah said at the same time.  
  
"JINX! You owe me a soda!" They said again at the same time, before laughing and jinxing each other again, this time Lily won, and Katie merely grumbled. Teri stood there watching expectantly, and it seemed as though Katie and Lily had forgotten they were going to get something out of Teri as they began to debate over whether Lily should or should not get the soda.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Teri finally yelled, and they both swiveled around to face Teri.  
  
"Oh yes, you were saying?" Katie started while Lily chuckled in a corner. Teri drew a deep breath and said, "I'm going out with Severus Snape."  
  
A/N: I have to end here because my cousin Celine wants to read it. 


	3. Chapter 3

Salt of the Earth  
  
A/N: Sorry about the Sarah mistake, thanks to kberg1989 and Chocolate Taco for pointing it out. Sarah is actually Lily, my three best friends are called Teri, Katie and Sarah, so I do get those mixed up, sorry again.  
  
Chapter 3: Chapter 3 (for lack of a better name)  
  
"YOU WHAT?" Katie choked out, and Lily just gaped in response, her eyes simply bulging out, rather unsightly actually.  
  
"I'm going out with Snape." Teri responded, tapping her foot impatiently, as though she had just commented about the weather and her two friends were making too big a deal over a thunderstorm or something.  
  
"THE ENEMY?" Lily screeched, gesturing wildly with her hands, before grabbing Teri by her shoulders and shaking her.  
  
"He's not THAT bad, he's quite nice actually." Teri responded, carefully extricating herself from Lily's grasp. Lily was a beater in the Gryffindor team, and she did tend to have a vice grip, and she was quite strong.  
  
"NICE? THAT'S LIKE SAYING VOLDERMORT DISHES OUT SWEETS TO STRANGERS!" Lily continued to screech, but began to wring her hands instead, much to Teri's relief.  
  
"I thought you like him?" Teri asked, "You always stand up for him!"  
  
"That doesn't mean I like HIM! I just hate the Potty gang!" But she did flush a little, and her volume was considerably lowered.  
  
"Severus and Teri.." Katie pondered, she did not seem to surprised, much to Lily's chagrin.  
  
"Oh come on Lils, it's not like Teri went out with James right? And if Voldermort gives out sweets I want a marshmallow. Maybe I'll leave a post it.." Katie continued, and she wore a grin which she knew would drive Lily wild.  
  
"Better than James I suppose." Lily shrugged and continued helping Teri move some of her stuff into her room.  
  
"Oh that's good, I invited him to come.." This time Teri sounded nervous and she added this comment sotto voce, and it sounded more like a whisper than anything.  
  
Katie heard this and immediately whipped around to look at Teri but Lily just continued walking, not really noticing anything.  
  
"Well I said it, she can't say I didn't when he shows up." Teri grinned mischievously and Katie just half glared half chuckled before they followed Lily into the room.  
  
"You will be sleeping here, Katie over there and I suppose I can squeeze right over there." She looked at her two friends who were sharing secretive glances and began to smell a rat.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lily asked, not quite wanting to know the answer.  
  
"Nothing, nothing." Teri decided, wanting the Evans Residence to still be standing at the end of the day.  
  
Lily was never a very nosey person so she just shrugged it off and they helped Teri unpack, and put her and Katie's clothes into the dressers. They could have had guest rooms but they always spent most of their time in Lily's room anyway so they decided to just save the Evans the trouble and just bunk in together.  
  
"I need to pee." Lily remarked.  
  
"Thank you for sharing that with us." Katie commented darkly, and after Lily left with a "just thought you would want to know," rounded on Teri.  
  
"COMING? HERE?" She hissed, and Teri nodded, "Just for a visit, he's not staying or anything!"  
  
"Maybe you could just sneak out to meet him instead? I mean look how Lily reacted! You would think that you had said that the world had been taken over by a giant lolly or something." Katie suggested, gesturing wildly, as she usually did.  
  
"It's no biggie! We are gonna meet in Diagon Alley, then he's gonna follow us back here and maybe come to Atlantis with us. No worry he's not staying over, he's just gonna leave at night and come back in the morning!"  
  
"Is too a biggie! Wait, did I just say that? Okay nevermind, don't you REALISE what Snape calls LILY?"  
  
"I know, I know. But we met at this." Teri started, but was cut short when she heard the flush of the toilet. Immediately they both shut up and sat down stupidly on the bed, desperately racking their brains for some false conversation.  
  
"GOBSTONES SO RULES!" Katie suddenly sputtered out, and Lily, who had just vacated the restroom looked at her oddly while Teri gave Katie a "could you have thought of something better" look.  
  
"Quiddich is better!" Teri said with absolutely false cheeriness, but fortunately Lily was too busy straightening out her shirt to notice.  
  
"Oh yes, it is. Convince Katie here that it is, she's been bugging me about it." She said, as she finally dusted off her shirt before settling down on the bed.  
  
"So spill about Snape." Lily instructed, hugging her knees to her chest and Katie nodded her head eagerly as she bounced onto a spot nearer Lily while Teri groaned and turned to face them.  
  
"Well you know my mum's in the ministry, so we were at this hideously boring party, and I was forced to wear a DRESS! Anyway," She hurried on, catching her friends' "cut the crap" look, "Anyway," she repeated, "I was just walking around and I was going to get a drink when that annoying Potter came up to me and began asking me about you," She paused at this point to shoot Lily a devious little look.  
  
"And you said that I still hated him like hell right?" Lily pressed, "continue on with the story."  
  
"Well, yeah Severus came and struck up a convo with me, which did not involve your name every alternate word, and he's actually quite nice!"  
  
"Nice my ass." Katie grumbled under her breath but Teri who was already caught up in the story did not notice.  
  
"He then asked me out after the party and you know, since Dedulas I haven't been out much with a guy on a serious date so I decided what the hell, and you just can't resist when Sev isn't being his.."  
  
"SEV? Stick to Snape." Katie snapped, and Lily pretended to hurl, both earning a dark look and a light smack on the head.  
  
"His usual greasy self. But I was coming here at the date, so er," Teri stuttered, and Lily narrowed her eyes at one of her best friends.  
  
"She told him no." Katie finished off.  
  
"Yes, I told him no, because I mean if I asked Sev no I mean Snape to come you would have killed me, right?" Teri asked, praying that Lily would say that she was fine with it.  
  
"Damn straight I would." Lily replied, "Good on you Ter, haven't gone soft!"  
  
"Precisely!" Katie commented, ignoring the glares Teri was shooting her.  
  
"So who's up for a game of Exploding Snape oh I mean Snap?" Lily snickered, and so began the official "making fun of each others' boyfriends" trend. MEANWHILE.  
  
"JAMES! SIRIUS IS HERE!" Assyria Black called, as she showed in a haggard Sirius who looked like a thousand Hippogriffs had just trampled on him.  
  
"SIRIUS!" James yelled, "UPSTAIRS!"  
  
Sirius, who was carrying an overnight bag, walked upstairs slowly. He trudged to James's room, and opened it before plopping onto James's bed.  
  
"Bad argument?" James asked, and Sirius merely nodded.  
  
"Don't' know if I would be allowed back. In the end I just grabbed my stuff and ran." Sirius moaned, "I wish I could stay here."  
  
"You could!" James suddenly shouted, and was just about to race down and ask his parents when Sirius motioned to his shirt.  
  
"I've got a tracking device. Bloody mother stuck it onto me with magic." He mumbled, and James saw a tiny black disc, well it was actually a scar in the shape of a disc. He almost growled in contempt for the "branding" of Sirius.  
  
"Can't it be removed?" James asked, already knowing the answer.  
  
"You think it'll still be here if it could? It was put on with magic, it can only be taken out by advanced magic, and we don't know any." Sighed Sirius, running his hand through his shaggy hair and glaring down at James's carpet as though it was its fault.  
  
"True, true. BUT, I do know someone who can do this sort of magic."  
  
"Don't tell me, Evans."  
  
"Of course she can!"  
  
"Sometimes, you have too much faith in her. She is only a fifth year, well not even a fifth year yet! True she is smart, damn smart maybe, but I don't think she can undo the work of a DARK WIZARD!" Sirius almost yelled out the last part.  
  
"My parents could?" James suggested rather nervously, he knew what Sirius could do in a rage, and the results usually were not pretty.  
  
"Like they would..they would think it was for the best." Snarled Sirius, and James could not help but agree.  
  
"It's like the dark mark." Sirius continued, in a monotone, and he rubbed the part of his body which had the device embedded inside.  
  
"Evans can get rid of it. We'll just fly by her house."  
  
"You make it sound so simple. First of all, we don't even know where she lives, and second of all, who says she'll remove it for us?"  
  
James paused to think about that for a while, but he really wanted to go see Evans and that gave him a prime excuse. He had already grabbed his broom, but the first part of Sirius's point struck him. He wasn't sure where she lived. Oh dear, he thought, so close yet so far.  
  
"Maybe some other day mate, like if we go to Diagon Alley or something."  
  
"GREAT IDEA! LET"S GO NOW!" James declared, standing up abruptly. He decided to scribble a note to Evans.  
  
Evans,  
Sirius and I are going to Diagon Alley and would like you to go to do us a favour. We will meet you outside Ollivanders in about 5 minutes. Don't be late.  
  
James  
  
PS: Bring along your wand  
  
Sirius read the note and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Not too polite are we now James?" He inquired, wondering what scathing response Evans would say.  
  
"It IS polite, I didn't call her any name." James insisted, as he tied the note to his owl's leg.  
  
"James, my boy, the absence of rudeness does not necessarily mean that the letter is that polite." Sirius advised, as he watched James pet his snowy owl and send it out of the window.  
  
MEANWHILE (this feels like a batman movie)  
  
"HA! I WIN! Who's your mama?" Cheered Katie as she gazed at her friend's singed eyebrows.  
  
"Rubbish, we let you." Lily snapped as she shuffled the deck of cards, ready for another game.  
  
"I know, let's play gobstones." Suggested Katie again, when a snowy owl flew in the window and waddled over to Lily.  
  
"THE NERVE OF THAT FREAK?" Lily hollered, showing Katie and Teri the letters. Katie was actually quite amused by the guts of James but Teri had the same reaction as Lily did.  
  
"You know what? We'll go. BUT, we'll show them NOT TO MESS WITH US EVER AGAIN!" Lily declared, silently wondering what James, no Potter, could possibly want.  
  
Teri looked rather shocked, but decided to go along, and Katie, not wanting to be left alone with Petunia, followed. 


	4. Grumblings and going to Diagon Alley

Salt of the Earth  
  
Chapter 4: Chapter 4(I really need to think of more interesting names)  
  
Disclaimer: Go read the ones before, I won't put anything here unless I think of anything witty so don't expect it to be filled too soon. Hehe..just take it that nothing belongs to be except what does Cheers.  
  
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Katie piped up, as she searched for her socks which she had taken off before playing Exploding Snap.  
  
"You are kidding right? You're not going to go at Potter's beck and call are you?" Teri asked, a tone of pleading in her voice, looking from Katie to Lily.  
  
"Well I said I'm going, but I'm not going to give them a good time am I?" Lily hinted, but realizing about how vulgar that actually sounded decided to change it. "I mean I'm going to give them a hard time."  
  
"Yes, yes. That's much better. Anyway, shall we go?" asked Katie, impatient to go to Diagon Alley to do some shopping. She loved shopping, anywhere and probably everywhere.  
  
"Lily." Teri pleaded again, she had a reason why she did not want to go. She had said that she would owl Severus if she ever left Lily's house, so that they could meet but how could she arrange the meeting with Lily standing there?  
  
"Well I want to know why they want me there!" Lily relented, "Don't you?"  
  
"James probably wants to see you that's all! See? And you're not going to give him the pleasure of him ordering you about will you?" Teri concluded, clapping her hands together and remained on the bed, shooting her friends a defiant look.  
  
"You think?" Lily asked, uncertain. That definitely sounded a lot like Potter and his gang. She twirled a strand of loose hair around her finger, wondering what to do next.  
  
"Come on! Maybe he really needs you help!" Katie persisted, almost dragging Lily to the door.  
  
"No! Lily you can't give in!" Teri panicked, she was not sure why she cared so much about Severus, it wasn't as though he was her best friend, was he?  
  
"I'll go ask my mum." Lily announced diplomatically, as she slid past Katie, "No promises."  
  
"Why the hell do you want to go?" Teri almost shrieked at Katie, while Katie stood near the door, tapping her foot impatiently.  
  
"I want to shop." Was her blatant reply, "Why don't you want to go? You never said no to a good chance to shop? Who are you and what have you done to Teri.."  
  
"Severus!" Was Teri's very understandable reply.  
  
"It's Snape!" Katie snapped back.  
  
"Now is NOT the time!" Teri said through gritted teeth.  
  
"Well since your answer explains so much, I totally know now why you don't want to go to diagon alley! It would have irked me so much if you had just answered with one word!" Katie replied sarcastically.  
  
"I said I'd owl him if I went anywhere so we can meet!" Teri said in an undertone, but she knew Katie heard it.  
  
"What?! You're like a slave to that slimeball!" Katie hissed back, sounding a bit like Teri.  
  
"He's my BOYFRIEND!" Explained Teri, still in that undertone, for some unexplainable reason.  
  
"You're following an order from a boy?! That's EXACTLY what you're telling Lils not to do!" Katie accused, "Why don't you just owl him now and then go meet him in Diagon!"  
  
Teri decided to ignore the first part of the comeback. "Why do you want to go so much? It's not like there is a sale on!"  
  
"I've never turned down an opportunity to shop!" Katie rebutted, and at this point Lily returned.  
  
"Well my mum says no problem, so I think we'll go and Katie you needn't look so cheerful." Lily decided, feeling rather amused as Katie did a victory dance.  
  
"I'm not sure whether I'm happier that we can go SHOPPING or that I beat TERI!" Katie squealed happily.  
  
"You know if you weren't so smart, you'd be a bimbo." Grunted Teri, as she walked over to Lily's table.  
  
"Lils, I need to owl my parents since we're leaving your house." Teri lied as she picked up a quill.  
  
"Er..okay then..but you ARE 15 in a few months time, I think you should be allowed to go out. You never owl your parents when you go anywhere do you normally?" Lily inquired, feeling rather puzzled. (A/N: Haha sarah you're always puzzled.)  
  
"There is Voldermort now Lils." Teri remarked convincingly, (A/N: Teri born liar..) while Katie merely raised an eyebrow.  
  
"So Teri is the first of us to fall huh?" Lily asked, the girls never had boyfriends before, and the last time they had checked, none were planning to, but for different reasons.  
  
Lily wanted to concentrate on her studies, and not let any boy get in her way while Katie liked having variety, but she never really dated anyone. It was rather queer, she was friendly with all of the boys in Hogwarts, with the exception of the Slytherin, but never really flirted with them. She said that if she committed herself to one boy, others would keep a distance, and she won't have as many friends who were guys. It was weird, but as Katie pointed out, she was weird, and Teri and Lily could not argue with that.  
  
"Shut up." Teri whined, but you could tell that she was actually quite excited at the prospect of having a boyfriend.  
  
"First of us to fall, falls to a Slytherin, and Snape. How disgraceful, how will we face the world?" Cried out Katie, slumping to the floor quite comically, and Teri merely sent her a disdainful look.  
  
"He really isn't that bad you know." Teri started, but decided to keep quiet when she caught the looks her friends sent her.  
  
Teri quickly sent the letter to her "parents" before they grabbed their money and wands and left the premises.  
  
"We have left the building, I repeat, we have left the building." Teri announced comically.  
  
"You don't say.." Lily laughed, as the three of them made their way to the nearest subway. Since Lily lived in London itself, they soon came to one, and took the train to Liverpool. (A/N: I'm not sure whether they specified exactly where Diagon Alley was so..er I'm putting it there.)  
  
MEANWHILE.  
  
"Well, that done, let's go!" James declared, as he stood up, and looked for his wallet.  
  
"Er aren't you forgetting something?" Sirius asked and James made his lips into an "o".  
  
"Well we can't invite Remus, he's chilling with his family and we can't invite Pete, he's with his parents somewhere in Canada."  
  
"No, I mean shouldn't' we wait for a reply? What if she can't go?" Sirius explained, amazed that the boy who scored straight As in his classes could be so dumb.  
  
"Of course she will go, I asked her to didn't I?" James replied in a tone which could be used to say that grass was indeed green.  
  
"What if she has friends over or something? Won't they want to do their own girly thing?"  
  
"Trust me their isnt' anything girl-ier than going to Diagon Alley." Said James confidently, though he was not to sure of this himself.  
  
"I know that she has friends over, so she won't mind going to Diagon Alley actually. I mean if she was by herself, she might have a job convincing her parents to let her floo by herself there."  
  
"She's muggle-born, she will have to take the train."  
  
"The Hogwarts Express collects people to go to Diagon Alley?" Asked James, impressed.  
  
"No.I mean the muggle trains."  
  
"You must mean the Knight Bus. Anyway, how do you know so much about muggles?"  
  
"Muggle studies.I pay attention because the teacher is hot." Sirius explained, grinning devilishly at the last part.  
  
James shared the grin with Sirius. They had had a very young Muggle Studies professor and she was definitely interesting to look at, even if she was a lousy teacher.  
  
"True."  
  
"How do you know Lily's having friends over?" Sirius asked, curious at his friend's knowledge of this girls' living habits.  
  
"Oh so that's Evans's first name? Wasn't too sure what it was. Oh I overheard her talking to her friend, Richmond or something? Or maybe it was the other one, the one with black hair." James said vaguely, referring to Teri as the black haired girl.  
  
"Katie? And isn't the black haired girl Holier (pronounced oly-air) Teri Holier?" Sirius frowned as he tried to place the names of the girls.  
  
"Wow you know their names? I know their last names and feel accomplished already."  
  
"I've known every girl's name including the Slytherins in our year. Since first year. Honestly James, you've been in the same school as them for 4 years and you don't even know? I thought you snogged half of them already?"  
  
"Well you don't need to know their name to get a good kiss do you?" James challenged, and Sirius couldn't really argue with that.  
  
"Oh so you mean Richmond and Holier are at Evans's house and will be going to Diagon Alley with her if she goes?"  
  
"That seems to make the most sense."  
  
"Okay, let's wait for a response first." Sirius suggested again, but after 10 minutes of waiting, no response came, and James was beginning to get impatient.  
  
"Silence means consent. Let's go." James declared, and they both walked down to James's living room, ready to go.  
  
"Just grab some Floo, toss is into the fire.." James explained, Sirius rarely flooed as his house had many security measures to make sure its location could not be plotted, and not being connected to the floo network was one of the disadvantages.  
  
"I know how it goes, you taught me the other time."  
  
"The other time you ended up in Knockturn and almost got your eyeballs ripped out."  
  
"Shut up. You go first then." Sirius humphed, and watched as James vanished into the flames.  
  
Sirius quickly whipped out a muggle beeper and keyed something in, before putting it back into his pocket, grabbing a handful of floo powder and shouting, "Diagon Allely" vanished into the flames as well. 


End file.
